This blog captures interesting news items from around the world for those strained by information overload and yet need to stay updated on global events of significance. The news items displayed are not in order of merit. (The blog takes a weekly off -- normally on Sunday -- and does not appear when I am on vacation, travelling, or otherwise busy.)
Joe A Scaria
Former Senior Assistant Editor, The Economic Times, India

Monday, December 28, 2015

1 Oil and Asian stock markets fall again (The
Guardian) Shares in Europe and Asia fell on Monday in trade thinned by holidays
in a number of financial centres, hit by slumping oil prices and concerns over
Chinese growth and finances - two of the year’s major factors.

Prices of both Brent and US crude fell 1.8%,
reversing a brief rebound that helped shares in the Middle East over the
weekend, while Chinese stocks fell almost 3% after a weak batch of industrial
profits data.

While most bank dealing rooms in Europe were on
skeleton staffing, and London markets shut, that had repercussions for a range
of assets, driving the Australian and Canadian dollars down about a third of a
percent and pushing bond yields lower. Profits at Chinese industrial companies
in November fell 1.4% from a year earlier, the sixth consecutive month of
decline and another sign that the world’s chief engine of growth for the past
decade is sputtering.

“Over-capacity and declines in producer prices are
hurting the Chinese government efforts and if the government cannot come up
with a solution to stop this, the picture will keep on worsening,” retail
brokerage AvaTrade chief market analyst, Naeem Aslam, said.

Brent crude traded at $37.26 a barrel, just over a
cent above 11-year lows hit before Christmas. The fall in oil prices has
depressed inflation globally, in turn reducing long-term expectations for price
growth that drive longer-dated bond yields. That tends to draw investors back
into bond markets at the expense of stocks and pushes up the price of
longer-dated government bonds.

2 UK young home ownership at record low (BBC) The
percentage of young people in the UK who own their own home is at its joint
lowest level since 1996, according to data obtained by Labour. It suggests
44.9% of 20 to 30-year-olds are homeowners - the last time it fell to this
level was in 2013.

It comes as economists predict strong property price
growth in 2016. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors expects prices to
increase by around 6%, while rents will see a 3% annual rise. The rises are
being driven by demand for new homes outstripping supply, Rics said, with other
experts predicting even bigger rises in certain property hotspots outside London.

Labour's figures, which include shared ownership and
are based on analysis by the House of Commons Library, suggest home ownership
among the young is at its joint lowest since records began in 1996.

3 Cow dung patties go on sale online in India (San
Francisco Chronicle) Like consumers around the globe, Indians are flocking to
the online marketplace in droves these days. But there's one unusual item
flying off the virtual shelves: Online retailers say cow dung patties are
selling like hot cakes.

The patties — cow poop mixed with hay and dried in the
sun, made mainly by women in rural areas and used to fuel fires — have long
been available in India's villages. But online retailers including Amazon and
eBay are now reaching out to the country's ever-increasing urban population,
feeding into the desire of older city folks to harken back to their childhood
in the village.

"Cow dung cakes have been listed by multiple
sellers on our platform since October and we have received several customer
orders" since then, said Madhavi Kochar, an Amazon India spokeswoman. The
orders come mostly from cities where it would be difficult to buy dung cakes,
she said.

In India, where Hindus have long worshipped cows as
sacred, cow dung cakes have been used for centuries for fires, whether for
heating, cooking or Hindu rituals. Across rural India, piles of drying cow dung
are ubiquitous.

Radhika Agarwal of ShopClues, a major online
retailer in India, said demand for the cow dung cakes spiked during the recent
Diwali festival season, a time when Hindus conduct prayer ceremonies at their
homes, factories and offices. On a recent day, ShopClues' website showed that
the patties had sold out.

Online retailers said people were also buying the
dung cakes to light fires for ritual ceremonies to mark the beginning of the
new year and for the winter festival known as Lohri, celebrated in northern
India. The cakes are sold in packages that contain two to eight pieces weighing
200 grams (7 ounces) each. Prices range from 100 to 400 rupees ($1.50 to $6)
per package.

Dung cakes are also used as organic manure, and some
sellers are marketing them for use in kitchen gardens.